Bacteria reveal clues to trade-offs in investments and evolution

3:29 August 1, 2013

The researchers, from the Universities of Exeter and Sydney, used mathematical models and lab-based synthetic biology, to predict bacterial investment crashes and boom-bust cycles. The study reveals how the diversity of life we see around us is maintained and demonstrates that the outcomes of investment decisions can be precisely defined. It explains why a single-celled, fat cat investor didn’t win out long ago.

The scientists developed the mathematical model to predict the best way for bacteria to invest resources in a trade-off between growth and investment in stress resistance. While humans invest in cash, bacteria trade in costly proteins to reduce their stress levels or to increase consumption and so grow faster. Evolution is the decision making process with different choices encoded in the genes. Each bacterium makes an investment decision; the bad investors fall by the wayside, the good ones survive.

A set of strains of E. coli bacteria were created which had a broad range of abilities to deal with stress and invest in growth; those that were better at stress were worse at investing in growth. The bacteria were exposed to stress conditions – salt and acid – representing different market conditions. This allowed the researchers to precisely define, for the first time, the exact nature of the bacterial trade-offs seen in the lab.

Co-author Dr Tom Ferenci from the University of Sydney said: “The breakthrough was in using synthetic biology to create bacteria with different investment strategies, some investing in growth and others in stress resistance. This is the cleanest system yet that precisely defines a relationship between traded objects in a living ‘market’.”

Co-author Dr Ivana Gudelj from the University of Exeter added: “Combining engineered bacteria with mathematical models, we have shown that very similar investment opportunities can require different investment strategies. These strategies are constrained by the subtleties in trade-offs that are usually invisible or ignored in real markets. The study is a classic demonstration of Darwinian economics and survival of the fittest.”

It has been believed for decades that trade-offs in the decision-making process give biological investors different niches to exploit as is the case in evolutionary decisions but until now, no-one has been able to prove or disprove it.

Dan Lovallo, Professor of Business Strategy at the University of Sydney and senior research fellow at the Institute for Innovation Management and Organization at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the research, said: “This paper breaks exciting new ground in the integration of the sciences and provides compelling new evidence on resource allocation that will be of interest to multiple fields: economics, finance, business strategy, and biology.”

This research was funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council (BBSRC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Australian Research Council.

ENDS

About the University of Exeter

The Sunday Times University of the Year 2012-13, the University of Exeter is a Russell Group university and in the top one percent of institutions globally. It combines world-class research with very high levels of student satisfaction. Exeter has over 18,000 students and is ranked 7th in The Sunday Times University Guide, 10th in The Complete University Guide, 10th in the UK in The Times Good University Guide 2012 and 12th in the Guardian University Guide 2014. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 90% of the University’s research was rated as being at internationally recognised levels and 16 of its 31 subjects are ranked in the top 10, with 27 subjects ranked in the top 20.

The University has invested strategically to deliver more than £350 million worth of new facilities across its campuses in the last few years; including landmark new student services centres – the Forum in Exeter and The Exchange on the Penryn Campus in Cornwall, together with world-class new facilities for Biosciences, the Business School and the Environment and Sustainability Institute. There are plans for another £330 million of investment between now and 2016. www.exeter.ac.uk

About BBSRC

BBSRC invests in world-class bioscience research and training on behalf of the UK public. Our aim is to further scientific knowledge, to promote economic growth, wealth and job creation and to improve quality of life in the UK and beyond.

Funded by Government, and with an annual budget of around £467M (2012-2013), we support research and training in universities and strategically funded institutes. BBSRC research and the people we fund are helping society to meet major challenges, including food security, green energy and healthier, longer lives. Our investments underpin important UK economic sectors, such as farming, food, industrial biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

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